Eva Mendes says putting acting on hold after having children was not a difficult decision at all.
The 50-year-old actress has been dating fellow movie star Ryan Gosling since 2011 when they met on the set of “The Place Beyond the Pines.” The couple has two daughters, born in 2014 and 2016.
Mendes mentioned her career pause during an interview that aired Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show.
“It was like a no-brainer,” the “Training Day” star said of leaving acting behind. “I’m so lucky. And I was like, if I can have this time with my children – and I still work, I just didn’t act, because acting takes you on locations, it takes you away,” Mendes explained.
“It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, okay, he’s going to work and I’m going to work. I’m just going to work here,” she said.
Mendes has been focused on projects off the camera, including launching a cleaning product line and providing voiceover work for the popular animated series “Bluey.”
Gosling also took a break from acting beginning in 2013 but has since returned and was nominated for an Academy Award for playing Ken in the summer blockbuster “Barbie.”
Mendes’ statements come just after a source confirmed the pair had moved away from Hollywood to shield their children from “celebrity kids.”
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“For them, the most important job is their girls,” the source told People earlier this month, as The Daily Wire previously reported. “Everything else comes second. And their girls are thriving. They left L.A. to live a bit further north, away from Hollywood.”
“They didn’t want the girls to grow up around other celebrity kids,” the source continued. “Eva and Ryan love their life. It’s admirable how they’ve been able to create balance and boundaries. They care so much about their marriage and just want their girls to live a happy life.”
Other Hollywood moms have struggled with their decision to balance work life and family. During a recent podcast interview, actress Christina Ricci said her relationship with her toddler daughter was affected by her filming in another country.
“Last year I was commuting back and forth to Vancouver for ‘Yellowjackets.’ [my daughter Cleo] didn’t know me. We had no bond. So that was very upsetting,” Ricci said.